A Texan on Her Doorstep

“Mac, this is my mother, Chloe Sanders. Mother, this is Mac McCleod,” Ileana promptly introduced.

“Mr. McCleod, I’m very happy you decided to join us tonight,” Chloe told him as she reached to shake his hand.

He took her hand, but rather than shake it, he simply held it in a warm, inviting grip. As a smile dimpled his cheeks, Ileana could see her mother succumbing to the man.

“It’s my pleasure, ma’am. Having you two ladies for company sure beats the lonely meal I had last night.”

Chloe chuckled softly. “Eating alone isn’t much fun. But my husband sometimes travels so I have to do it at times. Are you married, Mr. McCleod?”

Mac gave her a lopsided grin. “No. I’m a single man. And call me Mac, ma’am. Ileana already does.”

Chloe’s brows inched upward as she glanced over at her daughter. Ileana smiled awkwardly as her mother’s gaze swept over her sweater dress and her stacked heel boots.

“Does Cesar have dinner ready yet?” Ileana asked quickly.

“I think it will be a few more minutes,” Chloe said, then looped her arm through Mac’s. “Come along, Mac, and make yourself comfortable. I was just having a small glass of wine. Would you like to join me?”

“Only if Ileana will share one with us,” he said.

“Usually Ileana doesn’t drink anything but water,” Chloe said. “But maybe she’ll make an exception tonight—for you,” Chloe added.

Ileana didn’t know why her mother was speaking in such a coy manner or why Chloe expected her to drink a glass of wine when she knew her daughter didn’t like alcohol. But then, this whole issue with Mac McCleod was strange. His presence must be rubbing off on her mother, too, she thought.

“Only a very small glass,” Ileana told her.

Mac took a seat in a stuffed armchair situated a few feet from the fireplace, which at the moment was cracking and hissing with a roaring fire. Ileana took a chair across from him and crossed her legs. Then realizing she didn’t feel comfortable, she rested both feet flat on the floor and folded her hands in her lap.

Across the room, at a small wet bar, Chloe asked, “So have you been in Ruidoso for long, Mac?”

“Only since yesterday, ma’am.”

“How do you like this area?” she asked, as she handed him a glass of wine.

He thanked her, then said, “It’s very beautiful. But it’s not Texas. No offense, ma’ am.”

Chloe laughed softly. “I know what you mean, Mac. Texas is your home, so nothing could compare.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “That pretty much says how it is.”

Chloe handed Ileana a glass with a very short amount of red liquid in the bottom, then took a seat on a nearby couch.

Ileana said, “I’m sorry my father couldn’t be with us tonight, Mac. He’s away on business right now.”

“Is he a cattleman?” Mac asked.

“No. Daddy knows about cattle, but he’s mainly an oilman,” Ileana explained.

“Wyatt owns and runs a natural gas exploration business,” Chloe added. “He was doing that when we married—oh so many years ago.”

Mac looked back and forth between the two women. These people were well off financially. Even more than he’d initially thought. “This ranch, do you run stock on it?”

“Oh, yes,” Chloe answered. “It’s been a working ranch for nearly seventy-five years. For the most part, we raise horses, and I train them for the racetrack.”

He looked intrigued now, and Ileana wasn’t surprised. Her mother lived and worked in mostly a man’s world, at an exciting sport. Whereas Ileana worked at a job that was oftentimes depressing and complicated. Men were rarely drawn to her occupation.

“Thoroughbreds or quarter horses?” he asked Chloe.

“Both.”

Mac looked over at Ileana and was struck at how lovely she looked with her face bathed in a golden glow from the fire and the tail of her simple ponytail lying against one shoulder. There was a quiet dreaminess about her expression that was both soothing and inviting at the same time, and he found himself wishing he was going to have dinner with her alone.

“What about you, Ileana? Are you familiar with horses?”

“Ileana is an excellent horsewoman,” Chloe spoke up before her daughter could answer his question. “But she rarely takes the time to ride.”

“Keeping others well is important to me, Mother.”

Chloe smiled, but Mac got the sense that there was sadness behind her expression. As though she didn’t quite approve of her daughter’s lifestyle.

“Yes. And I’m very proud of you, darling. You know that.”

The room went quiet after that, and it suddenly dawned on Mac that he’d been so caught up in conversation with Ileana and her mother that Frankie, the reason for this visit, had totally slipped his mind.

“Ileana tells me you’re from Texas, Mac. What part?” Chloe asked.

“South Texas, ma’am. About forty miles north of Corpus Christi. I’m a deputy for Sheriff Langley Nichols in Bee County.”

She nodded slightly. “I have a brother-in-law and nephew who both served several terms as sheriff here in Lincoln County. We know all about the dedication you men put in your jobs. You’re to be commended.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Ileana’s mother smiled. “Call me Chloe.”

At that moment, an older man, tall, with a thick head of salt and pepper colored hair, appeared in an open doorway of the room. He politely inclined his head toward Mac, then turned his attention to the mistress of the house.

“Supper’s ready, Chloe.”

“Thank you, Cesar. We’ll be right there.”

The two women rose to their feet, and Mac followed behind Ileana as they left the living room and entered an adjoining room to their right. The rectangular space was furnished with a long cedar table that seated ten. The top was made of board planks while the legs had been roughly hewed from small cedar post. The matching chairs were worn smooth from years of use. Above the table, a lamp fashioned like a kerosene lantern hung from a low ceiling and cast a dim glow over the dining area. Across the way, heavy drapes were pushed back from a double window. Beyond the blackened panes, Mac could make out the tall branches of a spruce tree whipping in the cold wind.

In the past year, his brother had married a ranching heiress, a daughter of one of the Sandbur Ranch families. Since then, Mac had had the pleasure of visiting the huge ranch, and he could safely say that this house was nothing like the huge, elaborate homes there. This Bar M Ranch house was much smaller in scale and far more rustic in furnishings and appearance. As Mac helped both women into their chairs, he decided the Sanders family was only concerned with two things. Comfort and practicality.

After Mac took a seat directly across from Ileana, the man called Cesar served them a salad that was full of ripe olives and bits of corn chips. The concoction was so tasty Mac forgot that he didn’t like salads.

“Ileana tells me that you’ve come to Ruidoso to see Frankie Cantrell,” Chloe said, once all of them were eating.

Mac hadn’t expected her to bring up the subject so bluntly, but he was quickly seeing that Chloe wasn’t bashful about speaking her mind.